Rented normally, it costs you £194 a month. That is £2,333 a year, every year you hold it.

Will it pay?Calculator

You top up £194 a month — the mortgage takes 62p of every pound of rent

Borrowing £35,889 less would close that shortfall — which is £35,889 more cash at the start, on top of the deposit.

£589 mortgage

£525 running

£956 rent in£194 short

◧ market rent £956 · 85 comps2 empty weeks a year assumed

What if I change my assumptions?The dials

At the asking price, 25% deposit, 6.50% charged

Change any of these 16 and every card on this page changes with it. The 6.50% is the 5.75% quoted plus a company premium.

◧ worked out from local rents

What will it cost me to buy?Breakdown

£48,675 + refurb costs

And about £11,664 more over five years, because it loses £194 every month you hold it — before any repair. That already assumes the rent never falls.

£48,675 to buy it

deposit · stamp duty · solicitor · fees~£7,130, unseen

□ works not inspected

What would have to be true?The working

£45,000 off and it stops losing money

At the asking price you feed it £194 a month. At £97,139 the rent covers everything — leaving land transaction tax of £4,857 at that price.

offer £97,139

asked £145,000

◧ worked back from the rent■ land transaction tax re-bandedrounded down to £5,000 — the rent it works back from is an estimate

Is the price right?The deeds

Last sold for £124,445 in 2015

Nothing nearby is comparable, but asking is 17% more than the £124,445 paid for it in 2015.

□ this address’s own deeds, no comparable saleHM Land Registry Price Paid Data

Can we trust the rent?Rent evidence

Nearby lettings, but only by searching 1.5 km

We widened the search to find them, so these are not next-door comparisons.

+75 more

our bar: 10 within 500 m

our own middle half£895–£1,021/mo

■ 85 lettings within 1.5 km□ searched wider than our barAdvertised rents, not signed tenancies

What will the rent borrow?Lender test

The rent carries £101,432 of the £108,750 loan

That £7,318 is yours to find on top of the deposit. Tested at 125% instead of 145% — a company or a basic-rate taxpayer usually is — the rent carries the whole loan. Lenders test the rent at 7.5% and need it to cover 145% of the payment.

£986 needed

more than the £919 rent

stressed at 7.5%, 145% cover

◧ rent after empty weeks £919PRA-style test

Is it a good location?Open the map

Cardiff, CF11 0LA

No schools in this postcode area and flood risk checking… — open for the map, the schools and the rest.

Article 4Not assessed for this address

■ postcode area, not this address

What could kill thisThe checks

£2,191 a year in charges for the building, owed even when nobody is living there

The contract the property is sold under sets these charges, and they can go up over the years.

3 problems found · 1 came back clear · 3 we could not check · 2 do not apply to this property

■ from the listinglisting last seen 15 Sep 2026

Which strategy wins?The ways to run it

Every way loses money — Standard rental loses least, at £194 a month

Let it to the council: £1,248 a year less, but they keep paying when it is empty.

Standard rental−£194 · £55,805 in

Guaranteed council rent−£298 · £55,805 in

Housing-benefit rent−£489 · £55,805 in

Short-stay let−£509 · £55,805 in

36 nearby short-lets within 5.5 km · medium confidence

Each row: money kept a month, then the cash it ties up. Not compared: Rent by the room (only 1 bedroom) · Do it up, then remortgage (pays back at the remortgage) · Buy, improve & sell (pays out on sale)

◧ 4 ways, one measureranked on money kept each month, at the asking price

What would you walk away with?The five-year sums

−£16,112 after five years on the cash you put in, before tax on the sale

Less than the same cash would have made in a savings account, after tax on the interest. The savings account’s capital is not at risk; the property’s is. A fall of about 25% in the price would leave nothing from a sale after selling costs, and you would still owe the lender any shortfall. That is the £55,805 you put in. The 5-year fix runs past this 5-year hold, so the rate reset comes after it.

◧ 2.0%/yr growth assumed